Tom Hanks Helps Bring The Ant Bully to the Big Screen  7/25/06

Oscar winner Tom Hanks loved the children's book The Ant Bully so much, he sent it to Jimmy Neutron director John A Davis and told him he had to make the film.

Hanks had been reading the book to his young son Truman and thought it would make a perfect children's movie.

Davis explains, "It's kind of a picture book. There are not a lot of words to it. Tom sent me the book because he really liked Neutron and wanted to know if I had an idea for a movie."

Hanks came on board the film as a producer and convinced celebrity friends including Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin and Paul Giamatti to provide voices.

The film has also been converted to a 3-D version for IMAX theaters.

Davis says he hasn't seen the completed version because he has been on the road "but I did catch a screening of the last 10 minutes in Chicago and it blew me away".